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Previous blockchain-for-land projects often excluded key stakeholders, leading to misunderstandings of both registry needs and the potential of blockchain. Moving forward, include the right people during the “needs assessment” phase to better understand the political, social, economic, and technical aspects of blockchain. This group encompasses senior land officials, IT professionals, and the broader real estate community.

Involve C-Suite officials in the initial blockchain-for-land pilot instead of outsourcing decisions to technical staff. Senior decision-makers can offer perspectives on the political feasibility of a project, as well as on financial constraints. Executives can also provide long-term strategic vision, as blockchain “is a social technology, designed to govern the behavior of groups of people through social and financial incentives,”¹ and may have unintended consequences.

A rise in peer-to-peer transactions on a blockchain without matching laws and regulations, for example, could result in unwanted foreign investment, investment of ill-gotten capital in properties, and the gentrification of neighborhoods.² Corbin Page, co-founder of Meridio,³ believes that, “we’re still in the early days of understanding how blockchain technology will impact society and our communities.”⁴ Senior officials possess the experience and institutional knowledge to spot unintended consequences and risks.⁵

Project leaders must address low levels of blockchain education as early as possible. Knowledge of blockchain can vary widely, as with most new technologies. Do not assume that senior officials enjoy in-depth understanding of blockchain.

Several blockchain companies interviewed for this report cited education as the greatest obstacle encountered in 2018.⁶ Sam Tannian-Reynolds, chief operations officer of Ubitquity,⁷ said, “the biggest challenge will be educating the [land and real estate] industry as a whole. Blockchain technology is extremely complex and utilizes very esoteric terminology which will not be understood by most lay persons.”⁸ Another blockchain executive likened previous efforts to a science fair, during which officials gained only a cursory understanding of blockchain.

Better options are available. There are public resources, such as the Blockchain Trust Accelerator’s Blueprint for Blockchain and Social Innovation⁹ and guides from Microsoft,¹⁰ IBM,¹¹ and various blockchain websites.¹² And companies such as ConsenSys¹³ and ChromaWay¹⁴ provide opportunities for public institutions to learn about blockchain via formal training sessions.¹⁵

Blockchain, most basically, is a database. It is “a series of computers…that keep the same record of an event or transaction in a ledger that is open to the public.”¹⁶ Any blockchain-for-land project is therefore primarily technical and must involve IT professionals from the beginning.

The vice president of a prominent blockchain firm noted a widespread disconnect between decision-makers and technology companies during a recent conversation with our team. He said that executives often view blockchain through a high-level business or social impact framework. These are valuable perspectives, but C-Suites might have difficulty evaluating blockchain as back-end technology. For example, a senior registry official involved with a current project admitted to a lack of prior knowledge concerning blockchain and remained unsure about its specific purpose.

Advice from the IT team can help mitigate gaps in knowledge during the “needs assessment” phase. These professionals better understand nuances associated with blockchain, such as node hosts, certificate authorities, data standards, and encryption techniques. Specialists can also provide insight on the digital capabilities of a registry, as well as cost-benefit analyses from a technical point-of-view. Perhaps the team determines that integration of blockchain offers only marginal improvement at best;¹⁷ decision-makers can direct valuable resources elsewhere.

Describe any blockchain-based solution as a business tool to improve real estate operations, not a threat to livelihoods. Such constructive engagement with the broader real estate community can promote adoption of the technology. This group includes brokers, title companies, escrow agents, attorneys, inspectors, appraisers, and notaries;¹⁸ the individuals regularly interacting with a land registry, in other words.

Myriad articles and blog posts claim that blockchain will eliminate the need for real estate agents, make title companies obsolete,¹⁹ or even render the whole industry redundant.²⁰ This talk is overblown, as experts argue that nothing can replace the human role of a real estate agent during a sale.²¹ Nor will blockchain leave title insurance workers jobless. Steve Day, president of the American Land Title Association, points out that, “there is more to title than just the effective recording of documents…and many rights that impact the title are recorded within documents several steps back in the chain, and are not always adequately reflected in current recorded documents.”²² Any digital ledger will not automatically detect fraud, title defects, or human error either.²³

Advertise blockchain as another tool to cut costs and increase workplace efficiency. Secure sharing of data in real time can help reduce emails, phone calls, and paperwork associated with property transactions.²⁴ Smart contracts could also automatically execute escrow functions, cutting waiting time during the final stages of a sale.²⁵

Emphasize proactive exploration of blockchain and adaptation of business models to encourage industry adoption.²⁶ Real estate companies can follow examples from institutions like the Barranquilla Chamber of Commerce in Colombia, a traditional manager of local business registries. The Chamber is exploring possible incorporation of blockchain within its operations instead of worrying that the technology will replace it.²⁷ Blockchain can help improve processes when entrenched parties have an open attitude.

Much like registry officials, many in the broader real estate community do not adequately understand the technology. Yet these stakeholders must become comfortable with using blockchain-based solutions on a regular basis.²⁸ Companies such as Propy emphasize the need for education and user-friendly solutions: “We have had our reality check with people that have much less exposure or desire to be exposed to frontier technology, [we are] trying to make our solutions friendly and easy-to-use by more tech-naive users.”²⁹ Demos³⁰ and existing applications can help familiarize the broader community with blockchain.